


curiosity, kitten

by 1000_directions



Series: luckyverse [13]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpine the Cat, Louis vs Cats, Louis vs Netflix, Louis vs Vegetables, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 12:37:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18094451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000_directions/pseuds/1000_directions
Summary: “I don’t like cats,” Louis says, frowning at the five different cooking competition shows in their Netflix queue. Bucky definitely added that shit. He deletes all but one of them out of spite.“I didn’t like dogs,” Bucky reminds him, “but I got over that. You’ll like this guy, Lou. He’s so cute and little.”“Sounds stupid,” Louis says. “Get us something cool. Let’s get a snake.”“We can get a snake, but we are also getting this cat,” Bucky says. “I’m not leaving him here. He’s asleep in my lap right now, and his ears are wiggling for no reason, and I love him.”





	curiosity, kitten

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dearmrsawyer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearmrsawyer/gifts), [nightwideopen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightwideopen/gifts).



> Louis POV! Spoiler alert: he's a little shit.

Louis’ fucking around on Netflix waiting for Bucky to return home from Tex’s farm when he gets a text.

_So, do you still not like cats?_

Louis calls Bucky immediately.

“Don’t you dare bring home a cat,” he says as soon as Bucky answers.

“Hey, babe,” Bucky says breezily. “So, you’ll never guess what happened.”

“No cats,” Louis says firmly. “ _No cats_ , Bucky.”

“So, Tex’s cat had kittens,” Bucky says, and Louis groans. “Can I have one?”

The truth is that Louis is mostly indifferent to the idea. He doesn’t especially want a cat, but he also knows that Bucky will do all the work, and Freddie will be chuffed, and Cliff would probably like the company. Still, he’s going to argue the point just on principle. He said no cats, and Louis Tomlinson is not a pushover.

“I don’t like cats,” Louis says, frowning at the five different cooking competition shows in their Netflix queue. Bucky definitely added that shit. He deletes all but one of them out of spite.

“I didn’t like dogs,” Bucky reminds him, “but I got over that. You’ll like this guy, Lou. He’s so cute and little.”

“Sounds stupid,” Louis says. “Get us something cool. Let’s get a snake.”

“We can get a snake, but we are also getting this cat,” Bucky says. “I’m not leaving him here. He’s asleep in my lap right now, and his ears are wiggling for no reason, and I love him.”

“If you would come home already, I could be asleep in your lap,” Louis grumbles. He haphazardly adds half a dozen true crime documentaries to their queue; he’ll let Bucky sort out which ones they’ve already seen.

“Lou, he’s so small,” Bucky says softly. “He’s small and sick, and if I don’t take him, no one else will want him.”

“I’m sure someone will want him,” Louis says, even though he’s getting an uneasy feeling in his stomach. This is starting to feel a bit inevitable. He wonders where they ought to keep the litter box.

“If we don’t take him, Tex might have to put him down,” Bucky says sadly, and Louis rolls his eyes at that.

“Bugger off and stop manipulating me,” he says, going back and deleting the last cooking show from the queue. “Tex wouldn’t kill a cat. Especially not one you fancied this much. He’s too in love with you for that.”

Louis had noticed it right away, the way Tex got around Bucky, all soppy and dopey. It’s understandable, of course; afterall, Louis rather shamelessly threw himself at Bucky all those years ago based on not much more than the shape of his jaw and his frankly obscene arm muscles. He is secure enough in their relationship to tolerate other people being attracted to his objectively drop-dead gorgeous boyfriend, cheers.

Once it became public knowledge that Bucky Barnes was dating a man, he’d become something of a niche gay icon. Louis can’t blame anyone for that. His boyfriend is extremely shagworthy, and he can’t fault other men for fantasizing about him. It _is_ helpful that Bucky has never so much as expressed a passing attraction to any other human in the last several years. Good for the ego, knowing that Louis is the only one he fancies, even if loads of men out there fancy him rotten.

“He is a little in love with me,” Bucky concedes. “I bet he’d let me have as many cats as I wanted.”

“Pity you live with me and not him,” Louis says. Bucky’s been gone all day. When he comes home from the farm, he’s always smiling and sweaty and a little dirty, and his skin is warm and sun-kissed, and his hair curls a little bit at the back of his neck. Louis hopes he’s coming home soon. He wants to kiss the salty skin of Bucky’s hairline, wants to unbutton his shirt and lay him out and rub his shoulders until he melts. “Picked the wrong bloke, you did.”

“Let me have a cat, Lou.”

“No.”

“Let me have a cat or I’ll leave you.”

“You’re so full of shit,” Louis says mildly. “Did you honestly just say that?”

“It’s the cat or me, pal,” Bucky retorts lightly.

“I might believe that if you hadn’t threatened to leave me just literally last week when I wouldn’t eat those rubbish eggs you cooked.”

“It was a rainbow chard frittata, and it was delicious.”

“The point stands,” Louis says. He starts deleting anything in the queue that looks like it might be subtitled. “Did I eat that abomination?”

“You did not, and you were very bratty about it.”

“And have you left me?”

“Depends on how many cats you let me adopt,” Bucky says morosely. “I should get an extra one to make up for how much food you waste.”

“Love, it’s plants. It’s not waste to chuck the kale back into the bin. It wants to be in nature, not in me stomach.” He starts deleting black and white films next.

“I’m keeping the cat,” Bucky says, “and I’m making the frittata again for you this weekend. You’ll like it if you try it, you stubborn jackass. It’s gay and it tastes great and it’s good for you.”

“ _You’re_ gay and you taste great and you’re good for me,” Louis grumbles without thinking. Bucky doesn’t respond, and Louis groans. “You’d better not be smiling right now. That was _not_ a compliment.”

“I love you,” Bucky says happily. “Me and Alpine will be home in like an hour to rub our faces on you.”

“What the shit kind of name is _Alpine_?” Louis asks in horrified disbelief, but Bucky has already hung up.

Louis sighs and tries to get used to the idea of himself as someone who owns a cat. Then he adds all of Bucky’s titles back into the queue.

*

Louis is not prepared to admit it out loud just yet, but.

The cat is _stupid_ fucking cute.

“Look at him,” Bucky whispers, peering lovingly down into the basket containing a soft green towel and a fluffy white kitten. The cat is adorable, but the delighted look on Bucky’s face is what gets Louis’ heart melting.

“If you’re going to make me own a cat, at least you got a cute one,” Louis says begrudgingly.

“He’s a good one,” Bucky says with a grin, dropping a small kiss on Louis’ temple. “Give me a sec, I’m gonna show you something so adorable you won’t even survive it.”

“Doubt that,” Louis says, but he’s not so sure anymore.

Bucky gently scoops the kitten from his basket and places him carefully in the center of his metal palm. Alpine blinks sleepily at them, and when Bucky curls his index finger, the cat licks it with his tiny pink tongue and then rubs his face against the metal.

“That’s not cute at all,” Louis lies. It is easily one of the top three cutest things he’s ever seen in his entire life.

“Scritch him under the chin,” Bucky murmurs. “He likes that.”

Louis reaches out with a hesitant finger. He only really gets dogs. He doesn’t know how to pet a cat without making it mad. But he gives Alpine a little chin scratch, and the cat yawns at him and then softly begins to purr.

“Fuck,” Louis says quietly. “Dammit.”

“You love him,” Bucky says contentedly.

“I love _you_ ,” Louis corrects him. “He’s okay.”

“So we’re keeping him right?”

“Of course we’re keeping him, you don’t have to go on about it.” Alpine purrs louder, and Louis is such a goner. “But I’m not eating any green veg for the rest of the week. I don’t care what shit you brought back from the farm.”

“Just onions,” Bucky says. “I was gonna make beer-battered onion rings.”

“Cheers,” Louis says. He leans into Bucky’s body and rests his head on his strong shoulder. He fucking _loves_ onion rings. “I suppose I’ll allow it.”

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr post](http://1000-directions.tumblr.com/post/183418520034/curiosity-kitten-by-1000directions-for)


End file.
